


House of Cards

by snibnoom



Series: Classified Existence [1]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Gen, jinwoo's origin story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-06 15:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11603802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snibnoom/pseuds/snibnoom
Summary: Life seems simple.  There are the right things to do, and then there are the wrong things to do.  Jinwoo knows the difference between the two.  However, one small slip up can make a person's life come tumbling down like a house of cards.





	1. Hidden in the Basement

The best part about spending the summer alone with his grandfather is that Jinwoo is _free_. Grandpa Juwon still makes him do chores, but it’s easier. Two days a week, he’s responsible for doing the dishes. On Sundays, he has to mow the yard (only the front; the backyard is kept short by Grandpa Juwon’s two goats). Jinwoo is mostly left alone outside of those requirements. He doesn’t get to spend a ton of time with his grandfather, though. Most of the time, Jinwoo will call out to Grandpa Juwon with a question or a request, only to see the elderly man begin the descent into the basement. Jinwoo, of course, has no clue what’s in the basement. 

Once he had asked his grandfather, but Grandpa Juwon had said, “You’ll learn when you’re ready.”

The answer didn’t bother Jinwoo at first. Jinwoo had been 12 the first summer he’d spent with his grandfather. That was when his curiosity had been at it’s peak. Being alone with Grandpa Juwon had been something new, something that Jinwoo wasn’t used to. He was used to the house being filled with people. Every summer before he turned 12, it had been himself, his older brother, and his mom and dad. Every two years, his mom’s sister would bring her family, too, filling the bedrooms to the brim with sleeping mats and suitcases. Aunt Yeeun lives in Gwangju with her husband and three children, so it’s a little hard to make the trip to Guri every single year. Jinwoo doesn’t mind though. His cousins are kind of rude anyway.

Right now, the only thing on Jinwoo’s mind is finding something to do. He’s been pretty bored all day. It’s Monday, so he doesn’t have to mow the yard. It also isn’t his dish day, so he can’t waste time organizing dishes without getting an odd look from his grandfather. Jinwoo pulls himself into a sitting position on the twin sized bed, sighing. This room is boring.

The stairs aren’t far from Jinwoo’s door. They lead straight down to the front door, and he considers going outside for a moment. There’s a fountain in front of the house that he can probably waste time tossing rocks into or floating boats made out of leaves on. Can rocks be skipped on a fountain? Last Saturday Jinwoo had helped an ant stuck in the center part of the fountain. He didn’t know how it had even gotten there in the first place.

As Jinwoo walks through the living area of the three-story house, he catches sight of his grandfather. Instead of calling out to him, though, he follows him. There’s another man with him, taller and thinner but definitely male. Jinwoo can just barely hear them talking to each other. The words are mere mumbles.

Jinwoo stops at the edge of the kitchen. He thinks he can hear his grandfather say “class later,” though he isn’t entirely sure. A door opens and Jinwoo _knows_ where they’re going. That sound has mocked him for weeks now. Creaking and whining, scraping against the floor and sometimes slamming against the wall behind it. The door to the basement has been the point of Jinwoo’s curiosity for many sleepless nights. As many times as he asks his grandfather, as many times as he has tried to glimpse the secrets that lie beyond the door, he has never been able to.

Now, though, as he watches his grandfather disappear into the basement with the mystery man, Jinwoo thinks he has a chance.

He waits two minutes before creeping towards the door. As he opens the door, it squeaks, just like every other time it’s opened. This time, though, Jinwoo is really pushing his boundaries. Jinwoo glances down the stairs to look for his grandfather. He’s nowhere in view. With one last look at the kitchen, Jinwoo begins the descent down the metal stairs.

Why are they metal? Jinwoo doesn’t know. He doesn’t realize they’re metal until he’s actually halfway down them. His heart is pounding so loudly in his ears that any other sounds have been drowned out. Jinwoo pauses, hand on the metal railing that’s bolted into the dark brick wall. As his heart rate slows and his eyes adjust to the dimmer light, he realizes that he hears quite a few voices. None of them sound like his grandfather. Is his grandfather hoarding people in his basement? With renewed curiosity, Jinwoo continues down the stairs.

His grandfather is _totally_ hoarding people in the basement.

Jinwoo barely peeks around the corner first, but there are at least ten people walking around or sitting on couches that he’s never seen before. How did all of this stuff even get down here? He takes a step towards the room, and the closest person looks up from the book set in their lap. Jinwoo freezes, but he receives a friendly smile.

“Juwon!” the stranger calls. “We have a visitor!”

There are at least eight pairs of eyes that look at Jinwoo when the stranger calls out for his grandfather. Jinwoo spots Grandpa Juwon easily, standing across the room beside a woman with tan skin and dyed blonde hair. He stares at Jinwoo. For a moment, Jinwoo thinks he is for sure going to get sent back home early this summer. It’s such a shame. He was enjoying himself a lot, but he _had_ to take a risk.

“Jinwoo,” his grandfather says. “Come here.”

 _At least he doesn’t sound angry_ , Jinwoo thinks. He ducks his head, watching the floor as he walks and avoids making eye contact with any of the people here. Jinwoo stops a few feet away from his grandfather.

“Jinwoo,” Grandpa Juwon says. “Look at me.”

Swallowing thickly, Jinwoo raises his head to look at his grandfather. He doesn’t look angry in the slightest.

“What did I say about coming to the basement?”

Jinwoo seems to shrink in on himself. “You said not to,” Jinwoo replies meekly. He straightens a moment later. “I couldn’t help myself! I saw you come down here with someone, and I was really curious why a stranger could come down here but I couldn’t.”

Grandpa Juwon actually _smiles_ , and Jinwoo is so taken aback by the change in his expression that he takes a step away. “I guess it’s time, then,” he says, and Jinwoo can only wonder what he means for a few seconds.

“These people are my guests. Our guests.” Grandpa Juwon glances around the room for a moment. “I help them, and you will, too.”

“Help them with what?” Jinwoo asks.

“Well,” Grandpa Juwon says, “these people aren’t quite like us.” He looks at the blonde woman, who is still standing close and listening. She nods gently.

Jinwoo turns his attention to her. He only has a moment to process his grandfather’s words before the woman starts to float towards the ceiling. He steps back, once, twice, watching as she continues to rise in the air. Jinwoo can’t see any strings, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any.

Someone else in the room talks up. “Hey! I thought there was a no magic rule!”

“It’s not magic, dimwit,” the woman calls back. “Telekinesis isn’t magic.”

Jinwoo looks around to find the owner of the other voice, but a hand lands on Jinwoo’s shoulder instead. He looks up at his grandfather. The question on his lips is interrupted by an explanation.

“These things,” Grandpa Juwon says, “are real. Magic is real. Telekinesis is just as real. Vampires, werewolves, trolls, fairies, they all exist. They live beside us, but most people don’t know about them. We do, though. You and I, and all of them.” Grandpa Juwon gestures to the room in general. Jinwoo’s eyes follow his hands. He’s distracted by the woman coming back down to the floor, landing softly.

“Wow,” Jinwoo breathes. “You’re kidding, right?”

Grandpa Juwon shakes his head. “I’m not kidding. This is why I never let you down here.”

“Does Mom know about this?” Jinwoo asks, looking at Grandpa Juwon again. “Does she know you’re hoarding magical people in your basement?”

Grandpa Juwon smiles a little. “I told her when she was a little younger than you, her and your aunt Yeeun. Neither of them were very fond of the idea. Your mother has asked me not to introduce it to you or your brother, either.” Jinwoo makes a face that causes Grandpa Juwon to laugh.

“I made that face, too, when your mother told me that,” Grandpa Juwon says. “She’s not the boss of me. You found your way down here on your own, just like I followed my own father down here decades ago.”

“Wait, Great Grandpa Hy—”

“Yes,” Grandpa Juwon says, cutting off Jinwoo. “My father, his mother, her grandfather, and many more men and women before them. Our legacy stretches back centuries, Jinwoo. It’s not something to be taken lightly. This is a big responsibility. Your brother has shown no interest in the basement door, which is why I asked you to stay here over the last few summers.”

Jinwoo nods, understanding though it doesn’t make much sense. Magic, vampires, fairies, and probably even more is all real. Grandpa Juwon keeps talking.

“I’m getting old, Jinwoo.” He sighs. “I won’t live forever, though I have done what I can to make my life as long as possible. But I can’t keep going out to help people, not in my old age. You can make the decision to help people like our family has for generations, or I can turn it over to someone outside of—”

“I’ll do it,” Jinwoo says quickly. “I’ll help people. If it’s what our family has done, then I want to do it, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The story of how Jinwoo became who he is. This takes place roughly 7 years before _Wings 'n' Things_ , making Jinwoo in his mid-teens. So, what do you think? Come talk with me on [my blog](http://snibnoom.tumblr.com/ask/), or leave a comment below! I love reading your comments~


	2. Chapter 2

It takes fifteen minutes for Jinwoo to get lost in the basement. He hadn’t expected the halls to be so lengthy. His grandfather had sent him to get something out of a room with very clear instructions on how to get to the room. Down the hall, left, right, and into the first room. Or had it been right then left? Either way, Jinwoo is now turned around with absolutely no idea where he is. It doesn’t help that the halls all look the same to him. Grandpa Juwon can navigate easily since he basically lives down here. Jinwoo, on the other hand, cannot.

Jinwoo decides that the best way to find his grandfather is to find any person at all. If they live down here, they’re more likely to know their way around than he is. He hadn’t even found the box his grandfather sent him to get. Jinwoo squares his shoulders, and starts walking down the hall. The first few doors he reaches are locked. When one finally opens, Jinwoo only finds boxes piled inside. He’s hoping for a room with people in it. Maybe a bedroom?

A burst of yelling is what draws Jinwoo’s attention. He follows the voices, which ring and echo off the bare brick walls. At first he walks, but as the voices get closer, he breaks into a quick jog. A group of people are moving together while others look on. Jinwoo pauses just in the large room that he first came into. What is everybody doing? He gets shooed out of the way, a gurney gets pushed passed him, and a break in the crowd lets Jinwoo see all that he needs to know. Swallowing hard, he looks away from the mess of blood and torn clothes that the man is. Is he a person that uses magic, too? Can he make himself levitate like that woman had? More than those questions, though, Jinwoo wants to know _why_.

 _Why_ would anybody beat up someone like that? _Why_ are there terrible people who would do something like this to a person? Did the people who did this know what this man was? Is that why they did it? What was so wrong with being different?

Later, when Jinwoo finds his grandfather sitting in the room with the man’s hand in between his own, he simplifies these questions into just one. “Why do people do bad things?”

Grandpa Juwon picks up his head and looks at Jinwoo. He sighs, and smiles a little. “I don’t know, Jinwoo. I really don’t. That’s why we’re here, though. To help people who get ridiculed and looked down on for being something that they can’t help but be. We help people like this man—” He stops talking to look at the man again. Jinwoo looks at him, too. Bandages cover his face, and his left arm is in a sling.

“It’s our job to protect them, Jinwoo,” Grandpa Juwon says. “That’s our job.”

Several people join them in the room not much later. The mood is solemn. Grandpa Juwon pulls Jinwoo to a seat in the corner of the room, and quietly instructs him to stay put in case anyone needs anything. When Grandpa Juwon leaves the room, however, Jinwoo follows him. He keeps his distance and walks quietly on his sock-covered feet. Grandpa Juwon stops in a few rooms, probably to talk to people. When he does, Jinwoo dips into another room nearby and waits until he comes out and keeps walking further away from everybody. Grandpa Juwon never looks behind himself, so Jinwoo is in the clear for the entirety of the walk. Finally, though, Grandpa Juwon goes into a room and he actually closes the door behind himself. Jinwoo hides in the room across the hall (which is a supply room). He stands for awhile, then sits for an even longer period of time. Eventually, Grandpa Juwon emerges and goes back the way they came. Jinwoo isn’t interested in following his grandfather anymore, though. He wants to know what’s in the room that kept him in there for so long.

The room is almost completely empty. Several framed photographs hang directly beside the door frame. Jinwoo doesn’t recognize any of the people in the photos other than a young man that he thinks might be his grandfather. In the corner of the room opposite the door is a single chair pushed into a desk. Upon closer inspection, Jinwoo sees two compasses lying on the table. Maybe his grandfather is trying to repair them? They look broken, since they both point towards each other.

Jinwoo picks one up and watches as the needle spins wildly for a few seconds. When it stops, he turns in place to face the needle. It points at the door he had just entered through. He doesn’t think there’s any harm in seeing just how broken the compass is, so he follows the needle. In the hallway, the needle points to his right. Compasses work by detecting magnetic fields, right? Is Grandpa Juwon hiding a huge magnet in the basement somewhere?

The halls are mostly empty as Jinwoo follows the compass’ needle. Jinwoo follows the compass, holding it in front of him in both his hands as it guides him through halls. He walks right by a door only to have the compass redirect and point him inside.

Nobody is in the hall, so Jinwoo opens the door and pokes his head in. The room, however, is empty. He’s clearly being led here by the compass in his hand; the needle is pointing straight to the center of the room. Jinwo walks in, carefully shutting the door behind himself. Not a single piece of furniture occupies the room. There are some strange designs painted in white on the brick walls. Otherwise, he doesn’t see anything. Sighing, Jinwoo turns in a circle in the middle of the room.

And right in front of the door is a young girl.

She must be only six or seven years old. Her black hair is almost as long as she is tall, and bangs cover her forehead, obscuring her eyebrows. Jinwoo takes a step back in surprise.

“Uh, hi,” Jinwoo says. He smiles a little and raises his hand in greeting.

“I need water,” she says, her voice scratchy. Jinwoo’s smile turns into a frown. “It’s cold, too.”

“What’s your name?” Jinwoo asks. He walks up to her, squatting right in front of her. Instead of speaking, she just blinks at him.

Jinwoo smiles again. “Stay here, okay? I”ll go get you some water and a blanket, and we’ll move you to a room with a nice bed.” He stands up and ruffles her hair. She smiles a little.

It’s not all that hard to get lost down here, so Jinwoo isn’t surprised that a young girl has gotten lost. There’s no telling how long she had been in there, though. He hadn’t even seen her when he first walked in. _She was probably crouched in the corner for warmth_ , Jinwoo thinks. A few doors down he finds a bedroom with an extra blanket. Instead of trying to find his way to water before returning, Jinwoo heads back in the direction of the young girl. Unfortunately, she seems to have vanished. With a frown, Jinwoo sets the blanket on the floor and closes the door. Maybe she found someone else to help her?

As Jinwoo makes his way back to where he _thinks_ the main area of the basement is, he continuously glances at the compass. The direction keeps changing constantly. He sticks the thing in his pocket, humming as he continues walking. With nothing more to do in the basement, Jinwoo heads up the stairs. He squints as he emerges in the brightly lit kitchen. It takes a good fifteen minutes for him to make a sandwich (he can’t find the bread at first), and while he’s eating, his grandfather comes up from the basement with two other men in tow.

“Oh, are you going somewhere?” Jinwoo asks, wiping his mouth hastily as he stands up.

“Yeah, I’ll be out for a while,” Grandpa Juwon says. “I can’t explain much, but something happened.”

“What happened?” He knows Grandpa Juwon just said he can’t explain, but Jinwoo can’t help himself.

“Dragon,” is all his grandfather says. Jinwoo is left standing beside his half eaten sandwich in shock as he watches Grandpa Juwon and the two other men leave the room in order to go deal with _something_ that happened because of a dragon.


	3. Chapter 3

Jinwoo is loving this vacation more than any of his other summers spent with Grandpa Juwon. For the last three weeks he has spent nearly every hour of every day in the basement. All of the people in the basement call themselves magic users, but they all use different words to describe themselves. Some use the typical words of _witch_ or _wizard_. A few men call themselves _warlocks_. Jinwoo has come to recognize that the words used also represent their magic styles.

Grandpa Juwon has a room in the lower floor of his basement. The walls are tall, taller than in any other part of the basement. Though they are painted white, the paint has chipped off in some places where Grandpa Juwon tells Jinwoo some spells have hit. Jinwoo spends most of his time in this large, white room. There are always a handful of people practicing their magic that allow Jinwoo to watch. (It’s the only place that Grandpa Juwon allows magic to be practiced, after all. It’s a safety precaution.) In his observations, Jinwoo has discovered very distinct styles of magic depending on what each person calls themselves.

The witches and wizards are the most distinguishable. Their magic is always practical and never flashy. For most witches and wizards, the spells leave their fingertips in shades of dark blue and silver. Practical magic has a large span, however. Jinwoo has seen spells that unlock doors and spells that make entire walls disappear for any amount of time, just to come back into existence. The witches and wizards are also the ones that Jinwoo (and Grandpa Juwon) catch using magic to clean their rooms or iron their clothes.

A group of five men call themselves warlocks. Their magic is _ridiculous_ , for a lack of better words. Grandpa Juwon had warned him to stay away from them at first, but Jinwoo was unable to. They had, a long time ago, figured out how to “warp the fabric of time” (in the words of Seungjun, not Jinwoo) to make sure that they never aged. Grandpa Juwon called them dangerous because of the severity of some of the magic they could do, but Jinwoo found their spells fun. He had gotten Heejun to teach him how to make a air reflect images like a mirror, which would always come in handy for peeking around corners. Their magic, however, was very different to any of the magic Jinwoo had done in the last three weeks. It came from their fingertips with sparks and a pale pink tint.

Jinwoo found the sorcerers and sorceresses the most outlandish bunch of magic users. Their magic crossed a wide range, but most of it seemed to be battle-inspired. Jinwoo, while walking aimlessly in the large room of magic, had seen some friendly magic battles before. He had actually gotten pegged with a particularly nasty spell just last week that had made his entire arm double in length and turn purple. Thankfully, the effects had worn off in about fifteen minutes and Grandpa Juwon didn’t need to know it had even happened. Most of the sorcerers and sorceresses were also quite loud. They had several spells that played pranks, like turning the air cold around a person to give them chills, or pulling water straight out of the air to splash in someone’s face. (Jinwoo had learned that spell, too.)

The magic that Jinwoo most identified with, however, was the magic done by the small handful of people who called themselves _magicians_. Their magic was helpful, and it took bits of magic from the others’ styles. They could unlock doors and create mirrors out of the air. Their defensive magic didn’t limit itself to just deflecting an ugly spell, but allowed them to block off entire areas from certain people. Magicians also just did magic for themselves, and not for anybody else. Jinwoo thought it was a little selfish, but it was also nice. All the others, the wizards, witches, sorcerers, warlocks, sorceresses, they did magic a lot of the time to show off to others. Jinwoo didn’t want to do that. So Jinwoo got one particular magician, a girl named Suyeon that was a year younger than himself, to teach him magic.

When Jinwoo wasn’t learning magic with Suyeon, he took out that compass he had taken from the room his grandfather had disappeared into. Every time he followed the needle, he did something good. Occasionally, Jinwoo was led somewhere that he didn’t know quite what to do. He had been led into pitch black rooms before. The needle would point straight inside, and then after a minute it would point out into the hall again as if the needle had just wanted him to open the door. Jinwoo figured it was probably broken.

In the last two weeks, though, Jinwoo hasn’t had a lot of time with his grandfather. Grandpa Juwon is constantly running out of the house to deal with “something” that happened somewhere in the area.

On a night when they finally had dinner together again, Jinwoo had brought up a question. “Is there, like, a police force for the magical community?”

Grandpa Juwon laughed. “ _I_ am the police force. We keep our own in line, Jinwoo. We look after ourselves. We take care of anybody who doesn’t do anything bad.”

******

Jinwoo shoves his feet in his shoes, preferring to wiggle his foot around to get the back of his shoe to pop out rather than leaning over. “Grandpa Juwon!” he yells.

“Yeah, Jinwoo?” comes the reply from the kitchen.

“I’m going out today,” Jinwoo says. “I’ll be back before it’s too late, I promise.”

“Just be careful,” Grandpa Juwon warns.

Jinwoo nods to himself, walking out of the front door. He pats to make sure that he has the compass in his pocket before he sets off. That compass is the whole reason why he’s leaving the house for the first time this summer. This morning when he checked it, followed it, the needle had led him out into the front yard. The compass wanted him to go to the bus stop, so now he would.

Hardly anybody was on the bus when Jinwoo boarded. He sat down in the first empty seat after he paid (with the bus card he had thankfully remembered to bring in his wallet). The compass rested in his hand and he glanced down at it with every stop. Which one would be his stop? It felt ridiculous, leaving his choices up to an inanimate object. Jinwoo was certain that this particular inanimate object was magically made. Why else would the needle lead him to places and point in different directions instead of aiming North at all times?

When the compass finally signalled for Jinwoo to get off the bus, it was all the way in Seoul. He wasn’t quite sure _where_ in Seoul he was, but the streets were busier than he’d seen them before. All sorts of people were walking about. Jinwoo blended right into the crowd. Nobody even noticed him as he walked, glancing at the compass every few feet to see if his direction changed.

It’s not all good luck, though. Jinwoo does get a few weird stares as he walks, turns around, walks back, turns, and walks again. The needle keeps switching direction. He stops halfway and looks straight across from himself. There’s no explanation as to why, but Jinwoo knows he’s supposed to go talk to those foreigners. He just hopes they know Korean.

They do.

“Excuse me?” Jinwoo says, grabbing their attention. The two men glance at him, one giving him a small smile in addition to his confused look. “I think I’m supposed to lead you somewhere.”

“Lead us somewhere?” the man on Jinwoo’s left says, sounding surprisingly fluent. “What makes you think that?”

“I, uh, I have this.” Jinwoo holds up the compass, and both of the men’s eyes widen.

“May I see that?” asks the man on the right, but his Korean isn’t as great as the other man’s.

Jinwoo hands it over, watching the man inspect the item carefully. He takes a long time looking at the silver backing of the compass. It gets handed to the other man, who also inspects the back of the compass for quite a while. Jinwoo’s hands are starting to get clammy due to his nerves. Are they going to steal it?

“Okay,” the fluent man says. “We’ll follow you.” He hands the compass back to Jinwoo, and his nerves immediately subside.

The compass leads them a long way away from where they were. Slowly, the crowds start to thin and so do the roads. Jinwoo isn’t entirely sure what the men are saying. Are they speaking English? He tunes them out until he eventually has to interrupt.

“The compass is pointing that way,” Jinwoo says, gesturing down a very small alley between two tall buildings. “I don’t know what’s down there, though.” He pauses, seeing a boy down at the end of the alley. He has black hair that looks a little too long, and Jinwoo thinks he sees glasses. “Oh, wait, there’s someone down—”

Jinwoo is suddenly hushed and pulled out of view of the alley. The non-fluent man is peeking barely around the corner, and then says something in quiet English to the fluent man.

“You’ve just helped us out a ton,” says the fluent man. “We’ve been tracking this pack of werewolves for months, and I think we just found one of them.”

“ _Werewolves_?” Jinwoo exclaims, and the man quickly shushes him.

“Yes, werewolves. They’re just as real as the magic that enchanted that compass, but they’re nasty. Abominations, really. They shouldn’t exist. We’re part of a global team of hunters that are trying to rid the world of werewolves.”

Jinwoo swallows around the thickness in his throat. Grandpa Juwon didn’t say anything about werewolves. If they’re anything like in the movies Jinwoo has seen, then he doesn’t want to be anywhere near them. And the compass seems to not want him around either.

“I need to leave,” Jinwoo whispers.

“Yeah, go,” the fluent man says. “Thanks for your help, kid.”

Jinwoo follows the compass, walking quickly away from the area. He doesn’t look over his shoulder. Are the hunters going to kill the werewolf? Despite what the men said, that thought just doesn’t sit right with Jinwoo. Grandpa Juwon doesn’t have any werewolves in the basement, though, so maybe they’re right. Maybe werewolves are the ones that nobody likes. Jinwoo clenches his jaw and follows the compass all the way back to a bus stop. He boards, shoves the compass in his pocket, and rides the bus back to his grandfather’s house in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me too long to figure out how to best convey this, but I'm going to be getting up the fourth (and final) chapter very soon! Also, for anybody keeping up with this series, I will soon be transferring it to a new pseud (snibnoom) instead of keeping it here on astrofantastic, so be aware!  
> I love comments! Please leave a comment~


	4. Chapter 4

There’s quiet, and then it’s loud. Jinwoo looks up from the book he has balanced on his lap. He can hear shouts from the direction of the stairwell, like “make room, get out of the way” and “get me Jihun.” Jinwoo set the book on the coffee table, making his way slowly towards the noise. The crowd of people are all surrounding Grandpa Juwon, but Grandpa Juwon isn’t the problem. He’s carrying a thin boy with messy black hair, wearing the same clothes Jinwoo saw on him earlier. Except now his fact is bruised and swollen, blood staining the front of his shirt and his arm hanging limp. Jinwoo stumbles on his feet.

 _This isn’t what was supposed to happen_ , Jinwoo thinks. _I did that. I let that happen._

He can’t manage to get to his feet to follow them. The shouts ring in his ears, but he can’t make out what they’re saying. People walk around him instead of helping him up. Jinwoo doesn’t mind. It’s his fault, after all. Those bruises and cuts and the _blood_ is on his hands.

“Hey, Jinwoo, get up.”

He glances up from the floor, up to his Grandpa Juwon. His grandfather smiles, barely. “You don’t need to worry, Jinwoo. He’s going to be okay. Jihun’s healing magic is outrageous. I’ve spoken bad about that group of boys because they have a history of getting into trouble, but you can trust them.”

Jinwoo stretches his hand up, and Grandpa Juwon helps him to his feet. And beyond Grandpa Juwon he sees a young, thin boy with black hair that’s just a little too long, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose just so.

“That’s him,” Jinwoo whispers. He senses more than sees Grandpa Juwon turn around, but Jinwoo is already walking towards the young boy. He has to explain it. He needs to ask for forgiveness.

As soon as he’s close enough, Jinwoo bows deeply. “It’s all my fault.”

“E-Excuse me?” the young boy stammers. 

Jinwoo straightens, though he doesn’t meet the boy’s eyes. “It’s my fault that they found you in that alley. See, I have this compass, and it told me to take them there, and I did. I should’ve stopped them when I realized what they were going to do, but I—”

“That’s enough.” Jinwoo feels a strong hand on his arm, tugging him away. “Apologies, Dongmin,” Grandpa Juwon says. “My grandson has been through a lot.”

Jinwoo resists his grandfather’s pull at first, but it’s no use. Grandpa Juwon, despite being old, is quite strong. So he walks beside his grandfather, through halls that he recognizes and some that he doesn’t. Finally, they end up in the room where Jinwoo had first taken the compass from.

“Is it in your pocket?” Grandpa Juwon asks, and his voice is firm.

There is no point in lying, so Jinwoo nods and takes the compass out of his pocket. Grandpa Juwon takes it away immediately, crossing the small room to set it on the table beside the other one that is still there.

“I should’ve known it was you who had taken it,” Grandpa Juwon says. Instead of sounding man, he sounds disappointed. “You followed me down here even though I said not to. That’s what I should’ve reprimanded you for in the first place, but I used to follow my father around down here all the time when I was your age.”

Jinwoo stares at the floor as Grandpa Juwon sinks into the chair.

“You need to understand something, Jinwoo,” Grandpa Juwon says. “I know what you did now that I know you had the compass. You followed the needle, and it probably led you to those _vile_ hunters. Is that right?”

Jinwoo nods.

“That boy you saw wasn’t the boy that got beaten up. Jihun is good with his magic, but not that good. You’re going to need to apologize to Dongmin for acting so strangely.”

Jinwoo nods again. He agrees. This Dongmin probably thinks he’s very weird right about now.

“You are also not allowed into the basement for a week.”

That makes Jinwoo look up immediately. “But Grandpa Juwon, I—”

“You have caused that boy a lot of harm,” Grandpa Juwon says. His voice is so strong that Jinwoo shrinks down on himself, averting his eyes.

“Jinwoo, we protect _all_ magical creatures, not just humans who know magic. It’s my own fault for not educating you at first, but it’s also your own fault for coming in here and taking something that you shouldn’t have. You are going to have to learn your boundaries if you want to do this. There are just some things that you should not do.”

“Those men said werewolves are bad,” Jinwoo murmurs.

Grandpa Juwon sighs. “Jinwoo, there are good and bad people _everywhere_ , but no one kind of magical person or creature is bad or good. Those men who told you that were bad people. We protect ourselves and other magical people from bad people, like those men.”

Jinwoo nods a little, dropping his head to look at the floor between his feet.

“For the rest of the day, you’ll be spending time with Dongmin. He’ll teach you about everything there is to know about werewolves. When his pack mate has healed, you will go apologize to him. After your week of punishment is up, you can come back down here if you want.”

Jinwoo straightens. “I want to. I don’t want any more people to get hurt. I want to stop people from getting hurt if I can.”

“Are you sure, Jinwoo? It’s a big responsi—”

“I’m sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo-hoo! Now we know why Jinwoo is so eager to help people~ If you want, come talk to me on my blog [here](http://snibnoom.tumblr.com/) where I also sometimes post spoilers for future parts of fics or new fics entirely!


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